Giving Up
by Wiggle34
Summary: What if Hotch had meet someone while him and Hayley where having a break.
1. Chapter 1

"Aaron, ring her," Rossi says as the two sit in Aaron's office.

"She doesn't want to talk to me."

"Of course she does. She'll be finding this just as hard as you are," Rossi says, trying to make things easier on his long term colleague and best friend.

"Why did she leave then? If this was hard for her, why leave? She should have stayed so we could work through this together," Aaron replies.

There is a knock on the door that interrupts their conversation. JJ opens the door, poking her head in and informs the two they have a case.

Fifteen minutes later, the team start getting ready to head off.

"Hotchner," Aaron says as he answers his mobile, not checking to see who was calling him.

"Have you been over there yet?" A female voice asks.

"Uh, no," he says as he quickly glances at his team. They enter the elevator but he stays outside. He motions that he will catch up with them.

"When you go can you…" her voice begins. Hearing her voice again, he could feel his wounds coming undone.

"I won't be going," he replies coldly.

'_It hurts too much to go, tearing those old wounds open and then covering them back up again. It never gets easier it, just gets harder and harder with each passing year,' he thinks._

"Why aren't you going?"

He hears the surprise in her voice and chooses to ignore it.

"A case, which also means I have to go," he says, hanging up and getting on the next elevator.

'_Pull yourself together Hotchner. The team needs you,' his mind chastises _as he enters the elevator.

**Jet**

"Was it her?" Rossi leans over and whispers to Aaron.

"Yes. And I don't want to talk about it."

"You never do, Aaron. At some stage, you're going to have to."

"Like you talk about your past?"

"You're not like me, Aaron."

"Thank god," he replies, turning his head toward the window and staring out, giving Rossi the cold shoulder. Rossi moves back to the rest of the group, overlooking the abrupt dismissal from his long time friend and colleague, knowing he is hurting and more so this time year.

"What's up with the boss man, Rossi?" Morgan asks him once the older agent has taken his seat.

"Nothing for you guys to worry about."

Several hours later, they have touched down at their new destination and are busy working on the case .

Rossi watches Aaron closely during their case. To the team, he seems like his normal stoic self, but Rossi sees the quiet turmoil the others cannot. Rossi has no idea how the younger man gets through this time of year. Especially when the rest of the team doesn't know the private hell Aaron is going through.


	2. Chapter 2

Aaron is at home when there is a knock on his apartment door. He checks to see who it is before he opens the door.

"What do you want, Dave?" he says, walking back to the couch as Rossi enters.

"I brought this," he says as he lifts up a bottle of 21 year old Glenfiddich scotch out of a brown paper bag. Rossi grabs two tumblers before sitting down in a chair beside Hotch. The liquid sloshes against the glass as he pours them both a drink.

They sit there in silence for a few minutes. Rossi glances at the television. He recognizes the western classic, 'The Searchers'. John Wayne is going on about how his niece is alive and safe, that the Indians that who kidnapped her will raise her as one of their own.

The older man gives Aaron a quick sidelong glance and wonders if the younger man even notices the scene playing out on the screen before them.

"Where's Jack?" Rossi asks, noticing the boy is not around.

"He's at his Grandparents. They wanted to spend some time with him. It will be Independence Day soon. 'Course Jack always wants to celebrate and watch fireworks for a few days leading up to it so I allowed Jessica to take him up there for a couple of weeks," Aaron replies, sipping on his drink as he continues to stare at the TV. His look is distant and glassy.

"You didn't send him away for another reason?" Rossi asks Aaron as the older man pours them a second drink.

"No, Dave, I didn't."

"You're sure? Because Morgan picked up that something wasn't right with you on our last case. Maybe you should tell them what's going on?'

"Tell them what? Mm? Tell them that I'm not the person they all think I am? Tell them that I'm not perfect?"

"You are only human, Aaron. How many times have I told you not to let this get to you? That what you did back then was ok. It wasn't like you and Haley were together. God, how many times did she walk out on you? Kept blaming the FBI and their hours before she left for the last time. And we both know why she finallyleft and filed for divorce," Rossi says.

Aaron just sits there.

'_God, it's easier talking to a brick wall then him tonight,'_ the older man thinks. He slumps back into his chair, mulling over his scotch. A considerable portion of the movie plays before Rossi decides to pick up the conversation again.

"I know you like to keep your private life private and I understand that. But Aaron, this is not something you should be bottling up and keeping to yourself. The team would be here in a heartbeat helping you through this,"Rossi says, leaning forward and touching the younger man's arm.

"Dave, please, don't," Aaron says, pulling away. Rossi notices the unit chief's voice is quiet and not his normally commanding voice.

"Sorry, Aaron, but I'm sick of seeing you like this every year. And this year, you seem worse than you normally would. I know why, but that doesn't mean I like seeing you like this."

"There's nothing you can do unless you can wave some magic wand to bring her back."

"I wish I could, but I can't."

"I know you can't. You know time doesn't make it any easier, does it?"

Aaron looks down at his glass as he swirls the amber liquid around, trying to hold back the tears that so badly want to fall.

"No, it doesn't," Rossi says, thinking about his deceased first wife and his only child that never got to live a life.

"Have you spoken to Linda and John?" the older man asks. A variation of "Time Goes By" drifts from the set as Casablanca begins to play.

"Yes, I called them when I got home."

"I wish there was more we could do."

"There is nothing we can do. There is nothing linking it to any other case. There is no reason for the BAU to get involved. I don't _want_ them involved."

"Aaron, we have so many resources on hand. Brains. Knowledge. Things a lot of other places don't have."

"We profile behaviour. The Missing Persons Unit have all the same things we have access too. If they can't find her then no one is, not even us."

"Has anyone looked over the case lately?"

"Yes, they have. Ben has assured me that they look at it every six months, though some details are withheld."

"Why am I'm not surprised."

"Because it needed to be done that way, Dave. At the time, the wrong word or action could have put Emily's cover in jeopardy," Aaron says, taking a sip of Scotch before continuing. "And we both know what would have happened then."

"She would've been killed."

The two sit there in silence, remembering what it was like when Aaron found out the news via an Amber alert. How pissed off he was at not being notified. Not with her adopted parents, Linda and John, but the fact the LEOs failed to inform him prior to the alert's broadcast. He remembers back to the stress and worry he felt. Haley had blown her stack when she learned that he had a child that she didn't know about. And then walked out on him again for not telling her.

He always welcomed her home. She was his first love, his high school sweetheart, but both having never been in a real relationship before each other, they had no real idea how to work on it. That commitment is all about working together. About compromise.

Haley's main issue was the amount of time he spent at work. She thought when he was a prosecutor his hours were bad. When he started working with Dave and the BAU, the hours got even worse. By the time he took over the team, she was practically beside herself over the amount of hours he was working.

'_She never complained about the money that came in__'_, Aaron thought. The great wage he got or the benefits that came with it. Oh, no, she _never_ complained about that. It was _always_ the lack of hours at home.

'_The home __we__ lived in__,'_ he thought bitterly, swallowing his drink and relishing in the burn that trailed down his throat. Which they wouldn't have had if it wasn't for the hours he spent working.

Rossi refills the glass as soon as the younger man sets it down.

Of course, Haley refused to understand that her not knowing about the baby was to protect her as well as his daughter. Even after Aaron had told her he had no say in what was happening, that even his visits were controlled.

"Does Jack know?"

"No, not yet. How do you tell him something like that, Dave? Oh, by the way, you have a half-sister, Jack. We also have no idea where she is because she was kidnapped and no one has ever been able to find her. Not the best thing to say to him. Maybe when he's older and can understand it better, I'll tell him."

The two sit there, watching the movie. Rossi studies Aaron more than the screen, seeing the emotions emerge one by one on the younger man's face. The scotch is doing what the older man hoped it would, bringing down those walls for a few hours.

"You're finding this hard without her here to talk to, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am, but she chose to leave, Dave," Aaron says, having another drink. He's starting to feel the effects of the several glasses of scotch he's had.

"And did you ever stop to think why she left?"

"Cause she got a better job offer."

"That's bullshit and you know it. Being in London gives her the freedom from the daily reminders of what she can't have," Rossi says.

"We better not get called in tonight," Aaron says out of the blue.

Rossi recognizes the avoidance tactic for what it is.

'_Well, he shut that down pretty quick,' _he thinks. _'He's going to avoid talking about her now even if I press him. Best to just give him time.'_ The older man mentally sighs.

"I had Strauss put us on stand down for the next twenty four hours so there is no threat of a call coming in tonight. Come on, drink up."

The two sit there watching the TV. They have another glass before deciding they had reached their limit. Around 1 am Dave heads home via a taxi and Aaron goes to bed. As he sits with his back to the headboard, he thinks that he should call Emily but isn't sure what to say. He slides down into his pillow, deciding against it. He's drunk and right now he doesn't want to say anything that may cause problems for them both. Especially considering how he feels like he's the one at fault since he screwed up the first time around.

'_God, I miss her. I want her back in my life. But if that means having her back as a friend over getting back together, so be it. But then again, are we even friends right now?' ___


	3. Chapter 3

This is an author note to fix up my mistake i made within the chapters :) as now no one can see chapter 7 as I took the ntoe out so am replacing it so that you all can comment on it.


	4. Chapter 4

**The following day**

**Rossi****'s**** Office**

**0700 hours in the morning**

"Emily, you ok?" Rossi asks, noticing she isn't her normal chatty self on their weekly phone call.

"Not really. But then again, you know what it is like," she says, sounding tired.

"In a way, I do, but I had closure. You and Aaron haven't had that, my dear."

Rossi hears her pause at the mention of the unit chief's name. He wonders for a moment if she's going to hedge around the subject.

"I'm sure he's doing a far better job of coping than me," Emily says, dispelling Rossi of his doubts.

"I keep breaking down into tears. My team has no idea why, so I took some time off. Clyde wasn't happy, but it was needed."

"Have you told him the whole story yet?"

"No. And it's really none of his business. It's just another thing he'll use against me at some point. It was bad enough when I went undercover on his latest assignment that he took extra precautions so I wouldn't get pregnant. If I told him about her being taken or that I still had contact with her family, he'd go ballistic. As far as he knows she was adopted out to some family that was organised by the CIA and we haven't had contact since."

"Clyde holds far too much over you, my dear. You should quit working for Interpol and come back to us. I'm sure we could make you leader of the second team," Rossi says, then chuckles. "It would give Aaron a run for his money. We would have two top teams for cases. That alone would lessen the load on us. I'm sure I can talk Strauss into it for you."

Emily says nothing about his comment regarding Strauss. Rossi sits there, wondering what could be going through her mind, wondering if she would accept coming back to the States. He decides to tell her the truth about Aaron.

"Emily, dear, he isn't coping this time around and the team is picking up on it. Why don't you come back and just talk to him? Be here for each other. It would help both of you through this."

"I can't, Dave - not because I don't want to. 'Cause I do, but to be there talking to him and going through another year of this," she pauses and Rossi grimaces when he hears her take a couple of quick, shaky breaths. "I can't. I just can't, Dave. Being away from there has helped me to see that it wasn't good for me. Not when things were like what they were between us. I can't subject myself to being that close and knowing he's with someone else," she says as tears fall.

"You sure about that?"

"Yes, Dave, I am. I can't allow myself to be that close again unless she's found and it's necessary. Otherwise, being where I am now is better for both of us."

"Think what you want, my dear, but I can tell it isn't what you two want from reading between the lines."

"This coming from someone with three failed marriages," she retorts. He calmly gives her disdain an honest answer.

"And if I had listened to my family and friends, I would have only had one failed marriage. And both Aaron and you know the real reason why that one failed."

"Sorry, Dave," she replies. He can hear the regret in her voice.

"No need to be sorry, my dear. We only see what we want to see, not what is truly around us like our friends and family can see. It's just a shame that her kidnapping happen to take place a few weeks after her birthday. Aaron had been dealing with not seeing her. The day he saw that Amber Alert," Rossi sighs and shakes his head. "The Amber Alert sent him into a fit of rage that I had never seen out of him before. I didn't see it again until Doyle came back and you hid what was going on from the team. The team never saw the full effect that had on him, having to act as if you were dead. He does still care for you, Emily."

"No, he doesn't," she replied bitterly. "Or he would've given me a damn good reason to stay when I asked him to 'give me one good reason not to move to London'. He didn't."

Rossi hears her sadness and thinks, _'Yeah and you're still wishing to God he had.'_

"Do you honestly think he would tell you he loves you while still with another woman?'

"He did while he was still married to Haley."

Dave hears something in her tone, something that may have been hope, but isn't he too sure. Maybe it had been the hope that since he did it once, why not do it again?

"But he was separated at the time, wasn't he?"

"Yes, but...," she stops herself, realising what Rossi meant.

"Emily, you and I both know what sort of marriage the two had. High school sweethearts, who knew nothing else, didn't know really what a relationship was like. He loved Haley because she was his first love. He loved you in a different way, though. I bet he only knows now that he loved you as the soul mate that you are for each other. They had a number of break ups. Haley always said it was due to his work, but I didn't believe that and Aaron would think otherwise. But what the team doesn't know is that it wasn't the FBI that caused the divorce. We do know she was seeing someone when he wasn't around. Like during the time she thought he was sleeping with you," Rossi says, hearing her start to protest, "Before you say anything, Aaron told me that Haley was seeing someone and he found out. Well, he got signs of it when he was on leave. Haley didn't understand, or maybe she just didn't want to, that if you two didn't go to that case in Milwaukee, you'd both be out of jobs. It was her final straw. Her lover was always there when she needed him, so she packed up and left. They would never have stop loving each other even if she was still alive, they just grew apart. It happens. He may be in a relationship with Beth and he thinks he may love her but he's not the same person I saw when the two of you were together. With the exception of Beth, there is nothing stopping you two being together. Why don't you come home Emily and just allow yourself to see what will happen? Remember, Emily, Aaron has always been one to follow the rules," he says at the end.

Rossi is trying to tell Emily there were reasons the younger man wouldn't say something to her, especially when she was still his subordinate.

'_Aaron needs to grow a pair of balls and be honest with himself,'_ he thinks before hearing Emily's voice again.

"I can't, Dave, not while he is still with Beth. I'm not going to go down that road again. Been there, done that. And look where it got us in the long run. A child neither of us could look after, one we had to put up for adoption. And then, while I'm working undercover, she gets taken and no one told me about it for months. How do you think I felt coming home to find my only child had been kidnapped and it all happened six months beforehand? Leaving you two to deal with it and by the time I got back, there was nothing I could do."

"Well, you could let the team know about this. Let us try and find her. It's been ten years now, Emily."

"Yeah, ten years since she was taken and six years more when I found out I was pregnant while undercover. Which didn't go down well at all with the CIA, finding out that their master of disguise was pregnant and got pregnant while still being undercover."

"What? You were undercover when you and Aaron had that time together?"

"Yes."

"So you're telling me Aaron was duped into all of this?"

"No, he wasn't. I shouldn't be telling you this, Dave. Even he doesn't know half the shit that happened. All he knows is that I got pregnant and found out while overseas on assignment. I told him I would return for the birth and he had to sign the papers, which he did. He never stopped me from doing it. He supported me. He was there when I gave birth and there when we handed her over. He never left my side till I was sent back undercover two weeks later. He never left my side from the moment I returned to the moment I left."

"I know, dear, I was the one that granted him his leave for personal matters and told Haley he was away working on a case that was classified. She threw a shit fit, but I said his knowledge of the legal system was very important and that I would get him to call when he could."

"Anyway, I should let you go. You most likely have work to do," she says, deciding she doesn't want to talk about Aaron or their child anymore.

Rossi recognizes her sudden change in direction, as in 'I don't want to go on anymore', but he isn't going to let it go. Something never sat right with him over Isabelle's kidnapping.

"Yes I do have work to do but talking to you is just as important, Emily. Don't let this go on any longer than it needs to. Just say the word and I can have the team looking into this. As I always said to Aaron and those investigators years ago, this was no random kidnapping. They wanted her for something. And there have been a number of children around her age getting taken every year."

Emily says nothing at all before hanging up the phone on Dave, tears falling down her face. Rossi slams the phone back down on its receiver. JJ hears it as she walks past.

"You ok, Rossi?"

"Yeah, just got disconnected and can't get back through," he lies.

He knows that he's been hung up on because he just had to push that little bit more.

'_But JJ doesn't need to know who I was talking to or why.'_

"Oh, well, try again later. It's likely you're both trying to dial at the same time."

"Probably," he says. He sees a file in her hands and points toward it. "Do we have a case?"

"Yes, we do, but this one is different," JJ says as she heads to the conference room to go over the case.

"Where's Hotch?" Morgan asks as Rossi takes his seat and JJ stays standing.

"He's coming. He's just getting off the phone right now," JJ says. She flicks on the screen.

"Over the last ten years, the missing persons unit has been working on what they think is a major child abduction case. Where children are taken at a young age either to adopt out at high prices or kept to have babies to sell."

"And what does this have to do with us?" Morgan asks before letting JJ finish.

"Because in the last two weeks, this has been turning up," JJ says as she flicks the screen on to pictures. The group look and stare at the photos of three young women with cuts and bruises all over their bodies and barely clothed.

"So what links these three together?" Rossi asks.

"All three were taken in 1997, sixteen years ago from three different states. All have been found in the same state they were taken. All three girls were five at the time of abduction. No leads were ever found. Nothing at the abduction sites. All of them were taken from within their homes in the middle of the night. No clothes were taken, no signs of forced entry, or a struggle. No signs of any drugs being used. And the missing persons unit thought that it was a job done within the family because all three families involved had problems within their marriages," JJ says as Hotch enters the room.

"Now, on the autopsy of all three victims, they found that they were well cared for while being held. But notice how they all have similar scars on their wrists and ankles," JJ says as she shows photos of the markings. "Their hair is all the same length. Fingernails are short as not to leave any marks on anything or anyone. And, on further investigation, they found all three victims had been sexual active for a long period of time because there was old and healed scarring found. They also found out after I asked them to do further testing that all three females were, in fact, infertile. It confirms the theory that they think that these victims were being used to produce babies for sale." The team sits there looking at the photos and thinking to themselves.

JJ gives them time to go over what is in front of them and what is shown on the board before she drops the next bit of information. It's a rather large pile of information to go through.

"What else is there, JJ?" Aaron asks, noticing her still standing by the board when he looks up.

"John from our FBI Missing person unit thinks there is at least sixty children involved with this. And that's just in the last fifteen years. He thinks they go back even further than that since there's between three to five abductions that all are similar because of the way they happen and the type of families involved. Most cases the LEOs have all thought the family was involved. For most of the investigation, it's only been himself, but within the last three years he has had a couple of extra people to help him." JJ turns and presses a button on her remote for the screen in front of the team.

"John thinks that from 1998 through to 2000, these children were taken as part of this," JJ states as pretty, young girls varying in skin, eye, and even hair colour appear on the screen. "All are girls all aged around five or six. Looking at them, you wouldn't think there is any link between them."

"These are the ones from 2001 through to 2003," she says as another set of missing children's pictures appear before the team. "John and I have agreed all parents need to come in to be re-interviewed," JJ says.

Hotch and Rossi barely register her words because at the bottom left hand corner of the screen is a picture Hotch and Rossi didn't expect to be up there. Hotch goes white at seeing his daughter's picture. Everyone notices their unit chief pale and the shocked look on Rossi's face as they are sitting there. Hotch rises and grabs a few items of his from in front of him.

"JJ, we'll work this case from here. I need to go make some phone calls. Use anything and everything you need and if the FBI won't pay I will. This case needs to be solved," Rossi says as he stands.

Hotch walks out of the conference room and heads toward his office. His hand is on his forehead, rubbing it as he tries to hold in his emotions in check.

In the conference room, the others hear Rossi's stern message, realizing there must be something personally about this case for both of them. What they do not know is how that little girl up on the screen is connected to them. Just that the case needs to be solved. Each of them ponder Rossi's parting words.

No matter what the cost.


	5. Chapter 5

"What is going on there?" Morgan asks once Hotch and Rossi had left the BAU room.

"I have no idea, but we need to get working on this case. Garcia, can you pull all the information on the children together for me? B team and the Missing Person unit will be helping us with this case. We need to start interviewing all the parents again. Any that are local can come in for their interviews. We need to find some common link between all our children. There has to be something that links them all together," JJ says as the group starts taking files to go through.

Rossi returns to the BAU room and heads to the table, picking up the one file he forgot, his mobile to his ear, listening to it ringing.

"Prentiss," Emily says as she answers her mobile, not even checking to see who it was.

"There is a plane waiting at Heathrow International to bring you back here. You need to get on it and get home ASAP," Rossi says to her, not caring if she wants to return or not. As far as he is concerned, she is returning. The team hears him say as he grabs the file he forgot.

"Rossi, I've told you, I'm not coming back."

"Just get on the goddamn plane and once it gets DC, head straight here," he tells her. The team starts to wonder who he is talking to.

"Rossi, no, I can't. I'm sorry, I just can't," she says to him as tears start to fall again.

"Emily, this is not about Aaron, ok? I don't want to talk about this over the phone, so get on that damn plane. Before I organize someone to kidnap you and put you on the damn thing. It's waiting for you and it's costing me a fortune in the process." He says as he enters his office, walking around to his desk to place the file down.

"Fine. I'll be there in an hour."

"Make that thirty minutes. A taxi is already waiting outside for you."

"Damn it, Rossi! I should get you arrest for stalking."

"That is the least of my worries right now," He says. As he finishes, he hears a thud and smash against the wall and even Emily hears it.

"Rossi, what was that?" She asks him, not sure if she wants to know.

"Aaron throwing something in total frustration."

"Why is he throwing things? That's not like him."

"I'll explain when you get here. Now move it, would you?" he says. He hangs up the phone, going to check on Aaron. He hopes like hell Emily will get to the airport and get on the plane where he has reserved a first class seat for her, paying an extra charge. Right now he doesn't care, getting Emily home was far more important than the cost of the ticket to get her home.

Rossi knocks on Aaron's door. Getting no response, he tries to enter but the door is locked.

"Aaron, open up."

Nothing is heard from within the room.

"Aaron, open this door before I get Morgan to break it down for me," Rossi says and then he hears movement from within the room. The lock clicks. He hears footsteps shuffle away as he enters the room then locks the door behind him.

_'I can fully understand why he is like this,'_ Rossi thinks.

"What did you break this time?" he asks as he looks around, the sound of glass breaking under his shoe as he goes to walk past Aaron. He looks down and notices the black and gold frame in bits, with shards of glass scattered about. The only thing not damaged is the photo.

Rossi bends down to pick up what he presumes is a photo. He turns it over and brushes any invisible bits of glass and dust off it, studying its image.

It was of a family. Emily held the newborn Isabelle in her arms. Aaron sat beside Emily on the hospital bed, his arm around her shoulder. She had leaned into his side, her head snuggled against his chest. Both look exhausted. They stared down at the small bundle, a sad, longing look on both their faces.

Rossi had snapped the photo during a rare, unguarded moment for the couple.

_'Two of my family who should've been together when Isabelle was born. Who couldn't be. Our jobs cost us far too much.'_ goes through his mind. Remembering what he has lost as well as his family. He sighs.

"Throwing things isn't going to help, Aaron."

He gets no response at all. Aaron stays on his couch, his head in his hands.

_'I shouldn't be surprised by that,'_ he thinks, wondering why he expected a response.

"I think it's best till this case is solved, and you have sorted your emotions out, for me to take over as Acting Unit Chief. I can keep on top of what is going on with three teams involved," Rossi says to Aaron. "Emily is on her way back as well. Make her feel welcome when she gets here. This is going to be just as hard on her as it is on you." His tone telling Aaron he has no say in this that he is to do as he is told.

"Morgan should be doing it," Aaron says, diverting the conversation away from the topic of Emily.

"Aaron, in this case, I should be. And I'm sure when Strauss and a few others are informed they will think the same. Normally, I wouldn't care, but in this case, I do. But I think you and Emily, as soon as she gets here, need to inform the team that one of those children on that list is your daughter."

"No, it's not going to happen."

"Well, either you two tell them or they find out via other methods. And with Garcia doing full checks, they will. She'll find out about Isabelle and I think they'd prefer to know from you two and not the computer checks."

"They won't find out via the computer checks. Our side of it is sealed. The CIA made sure of it. Remember?" Aaron says firmly to Dave, a tone that normally he wouldn't accept from anyone. But with what Aaron is feeling right now, Dave allows it slip past.

"And we know if Garcia needs to find info, she can even get classified information. I don't think the CIA sealing a file is going to stop her, it will just push her more. Then the team, bar me of course, is going to think that whatever is in that sealed filed is important to the case. They will think it's hiding the information they need to solve or get a major lead. Of course, I will know different, but me saying that it isn't part of the case is then going to cause more problems 'cause they'll know that I know more than I'm letting on," Rossi says to Hotch, trying to get him to understand the importance of informing the team.

"No, this can't be happening. It just can't be," Aaron says as he paces around.

"Well it is, Aaron. So you're going to need to tell them," Rossi says.

* * *

**Back in the BAU Room**

"Rossi knows something we don't," Morgan says bluntly. He's not at all happy about being left out of the loop about what is going on with their Unit Chief.

"And we deserve to allow them the privacy they need till they both feel like telling us what's up. As you all know those two have been in this unit the longest. Maybe one of those photos is about a case they worked before your time, Morgan," Blake says. She knows the team have been together for a long time now and feel like a family, which they are. However, Blake also knows that Hotch and Rossi were here first, before the others, so there are going to be secrets that they hold that the team won't know about. She also feels she can he the voice of reason right now as she doesn't have the deep family connection that the others have.

"She's right, we should be giving them the respect and privacy they need. What would you like me to do, JJ?" Reid asks as he sits there thinking. JJ starts to rattle off a to do list. As she is informing the others, Rossi walks in.

"Thanks, JJ," Rossi says. "We all have our own areas of expertise, so use them. There's going to be a lot of emotions running high with this case. If at any time you need to step out, take five minutes, call home, anything, just do it, but also let the others know. Until further notice, I'm Acting Unit Chief. Nothing against you, Morgan, but for the best interests of this team and this case, it is best that I am leading. Garcia, any children you come across with sealed files I want their names passed over to me."

Morgan isn't happy about not being able to step up to his role that he often does when Hotch can't. Rossi can see that Morgan isn't happy.

"Morgan, trust me, I know for a fact you will get emotionally involved. We all will. Since I'm the more experienced and oldest here, it's for the best. But just because I'm doing it, doesn't mean this team can't work like it normally does. Do your job like you always do. Remember we are the best at what we do," Rossi tells them.

"Rossi, are we allowed to know what is up with Hotch?" Reid asks. The doctor has a feeling he won't get an answer but he wants to know.

"Not right now, Reid. You will be informed later on. Now lets get to work. B team is down below and Missing persons is about to arrive. Use this room as much as you want. It may even be easier for all of us to be in here brainstorming. I'm going to my office. I have more calls to make," he says as he leaves. JJ goes and gets the other two teams, bringing them up to the BAU room, where they all start going over everything. As they go through the files they all start to notice one file is missing.

"Where's the file to match this?" a member from B team asks as he looks at the photos on the screen, unable to find a matching file within his pile.

"Agent Rossi has it," Reid states to him as if it is nothing to worry about and a normal thing for Rossi to take files away.

"Does he do that often?"

"When he wants some privacy and quiet space, he'll take a file and go to his office or a quiet spot to get his notebook out and make notes, then comes back to us afterward. He's always done it." Reid states.

The rest of the team breaths a sigh of relief as Reid explains that it is normal. They are all covering for the two most experienced members right now. Though the others do pick up the fact that Reid did notice and take note of the file that Rossi took with him earlier.

"And your leader, where's he? Shouldn't he be in here helping?

"He's in his office making phone calls, dealing with people above our security clearance," Morgan says to the B team member, not at all impressed at how noisy the second team seems to be.

* * *

**Hotch's Office.**

"Sorry, Beth, I won't be up this weekend. We've got a major case come."

"Is it away or home?"

"Both, we're based here." Hotch says.

_'In all honesty, I don't want to be talking to anyone let alone making this call, but I owe you this call,'_ Aaron thinks.

"Okay. Why don't I come down then?" Aaron managers to hear as his thoughts sidetrack him again.

"I don't know what free time I will have you. You may not even see me bar the few hours I may sleep at home. I'll most likely crash here," He tells her.

"Aaron, what's up? I know something is wrong by your tone of voice," Beth says to him, honestly not knowing what is wrong. She can tell something is up, though, as his tone of voice is nothing like it normally is with her.

"I'm fine. It's just the case. It's a tough one," he says to her, not really giving much away and he can't anyway.

_'And you're the last person I want to talk to about this anyway,'_ he thinks to himself.

"Ok, then, well, I'll catch up with you another time," she says before hanging up.

After hanging up the phone to Aaron, Beth decides to head to DC to be there for him if he needs her.

Several hours have gone by. Garcia has come and gone with information for everyone. All the interview times have been made, with some already done over the phone. Still, nothing gives them a lead as to who is doing this and where. They keep working away at it. No one knows how many pots of coffee they have gone through, or how much time has gone past, until the room goes dead quiet.

"Prentiss, what are you doing here?" Morgan asks her, looking at his watch and noticing that it is six pm.

"Where's Rossi?" she asks them. Her body stands tall but gives the pissed off vibe that Morgan knows all too well.

"In his office," Reid responds then goes back to reading his file.

"Um, no, I just checked there," she says, not at all impressed that he wasn't where he said he would be.

"I'm right behind you. My office. Now," Rossi says firmly to her. Everyone can tell he is pissed off over something. And that Prentiss may be the reason behind it.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Ok all here is another update for you chapters 1 to 3 have been going through a rewrite so you guys may want to re-read them at some stage :) Sorry for the delay this chapter had a number of rewrites before I was finally happy with its direction and flow.**_

* * *

**Rossi's Office.**

"Emily, you know how you didn't want the team involved with finding Isabelle? Well, sadly, they are."

Rossi watches the fury sweep across her face. He unconsciously grabs hold of the armrests of the chair he is sitting in, waiting for the explosion to come. He's seen this look of hers before and it's always frightened him a bit.

"What?! I told you NO! Why in the hell can't you do as you're goddamn _told_?" she hisses at him. She turns to the couch and gives it a vicious kick with her heel. There is a loud THUMP! against the wall.

She stands there, turned away from him, fighting to regain some measure of control. Her hands turn into fists, tight enough that he can see her knuckles turning white from across the room.

Just because she's angry, though, doesn't mean she has the right to take it out on him. Rossi feels his own anger rise in turn.

"Sit downand be quiet," he senses the strain in his voice. She bites the edge of her lower lip. He sees the remorse of her outburst when she realizes he's trying hard not to bite back at her.

"Her file has come up in a case we were given this morning, a major child abduction. Missing persons has come to us for help. JJ agreed before either myself or Aaron knew about it," he says as the unit chief enters the room.

"I don't want to see you," Emily tells Aaron.

He senses her tone of anger and wonders if it's towards him, the case, or both.

'_I'll let it go for now. We've got bigger issues going on__than what's between us," _ Aaron thinks. He takes a small calming breath before addressing her in a neutral voice.

"Right now we need to put our personal differences aside and tell the team about her."

"No. No! No!" she says."We can't do that. You have no idea the can of worms that we'll open if we do." She holds her hands tightly together and her head shakes from side to side. There is a look of fear on her face.

It is a reaction that Rossi and Aaron rarely see in her.

'_Well, looks like the shit is finally going to hit the fan,' _Rossi thinks as he watches the two of them, Aaron with his rigid stance and the fear emanating from Emily.

Emily puts her head in her hands. She doesn't see the change on Aaron's face, but Rossi does. He sees Aaron's earlier frustrations showing through again. The unit chief rails into Emily.

"Like what Emily?" he asks. There's no mistaking his defensive tone."The fact that my marriage was on the rocks years before it finally ended? How I wasn't man enough toputan endto Haley's and my relationship? Or make a family with you like I should have?"

Aaron pauses. '_I shouldn't be attacking her like this,' _he thinks. But all the anger and hurt that he has carried with him for so long wells up, getting the better of him.

"Or how I was forced to spend your pregnancy thousands of miles away, being unable to ask any questions? 'Just do as I ask, Aaron' - Does that sound familiar, Emily?," he says. His voice is quiet but full of so many emotions. He stands just a few feet away, forcing her to return his gaze.

"Did you know that the CIA didn't want you to know that she had been kidnapped till you had finished that bullshit operation you were on? Or maybe the fact that we once had a relationship that we never told the team about. Screw it all, Emily! They need us to be honest. How the hell are they going to trust me or you," he says, turning away from her then and pacing the office.

"Or us again if we don't tell them?" he continues, running a hand through his hair.

He takes a deep breath. The pacing helps him to rein in some control over his body, which right now desperately wants to throw the nearest object through a window or tear the chair apart.

"I've been thinking about it all day, thinking of ways not to tell them. But I can't find one -not one - that doesn't involve us. And honestly, when our girl is found and returned back to her adoptive parents, I want to be part of it. I want to be able to hug her like I use to before she went missing. I don't know about you, Emily, but I need to know one way or another," he says, finally sitting down and placing his elbows on his knees and his head into his hands. He doesn't want them to see his unshed tears.

"Aaron**,** please, I don't want them to know," she pleads. She bites her lip and turns away from the unit chief. Rossi, however, sees her profile. She, too, is fighting back tears.

"Why not, Emily? They need to know," Aaron asks. Her features are draining of colour at the prospect of the team finding out about them, about their child.

"No, because you don't understand, ok?"

Rossi and Aaron both hear the slight hitch in her tone and can tell she is trying to hold her emotions in check.

"Make me understand then, Emily. Tell me what I need to know so that I can understand - why the _hell _you don't want them to know?"

She hears his soft pleading tone turn to anger.

"Look, I will leave you two kids to talk this over without me here. If you need me, Emily, just text me," Rossi says, feeling the tension in the room get more charged. He knows that these two have far more to talk about so he attempts to take advantage of a convenient exit.

"Hang on, Dave. You know what she is going to tell me, don't you?" Aaron asks, wondering why in the hell the older man is making a hasty exit now when he was alright with sitting there before.

Rossi pauses. He has no desire to hurt Aaron, but knows what the younger man needs to hear now is the truth. No matter how much it will hurt.

"Some of it, yes, but not all," the older man admits. He looks at the grim set of Aaron's face for a moment, but the younger man says nothing.

"We're talking about that later," Aaron says to Rossi as the older man heads for the door, giving him a 'I'm not impressed with you' look. With a sigh, he walks out, shutting the door behind him.

'_I'm not sure if leaving them alone is such a great idea. They may kill each other over this. But they need to talk, to be open and honest with each other. Hearts are going to be broken even more after this. I better stay close just in case," _he thinks, heading off to the conference room to see where they are with the current case.

"So he knows more about what is going on than me? Damn it, Emily! I have a right to know!" Aaron growls, standing up and taking a few steps toward her. Emily scowls at him, but not without retreating a step or two.

"Like hell you do! You gave that right up the minute you allowed Haley back into your bed."

"Don't bring her up. This is not about Haley. This is about us and our child. Now tell me why the hell we can't tell the team," Aaron replies. He studies her briefly. Her stance is defensive and closed off.

'_This isn't going to get us anywhere,'_ he thinks. He tries another tactic, willing himself to calm so that she will open up to him.

Emily sighs, slumping her shoulders slightly. He can see that she is reluctant to divulge her reasons, but he remains quiet.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you back then," she begins, rubbing a hand across her forehead. "Only Director Webb and Assistant Director Truesdale knew the full extent of my cover. I wasn't between operations, I was on an operation."

"Excuse me? You were what?" His voice is full of shock.

"You heard me."

"I heard what you said, but I'm having a hard time believing you. You told me you were between operations, but trying to get information on Valhalla. Information and profiles I helped you build. "

The confusion is obvious in his voice.

"I was after the profiles on them, but I was also undercover."

"Okay, so, explain it to me then. You told me you were only working here at the FBI due to some requirement by the CIA at the time."

"Interpol and CIA wanted me to play myself. They wanted the gang I had managed to infiltrate to believe I could be whoever I wanted to be. The gang also wanted info on the FBI and what the FBI knew about the group and their weapons smuggling. The CIA decided to plant me since I had a clean record and could adapt to new situations quickly and easily," she says.

Aaron is silent for a few moments.

"So you were working undercover, while we were together?" he asks.

His confusion is still evident.

"Yes."

"What mission was this for? And don't say I'm not allowed to know. I have a right to know, Emily."

"It was the mission I was doing before becoming Lauren Reynolds to get closer to Doyle. I passed false information that the agencies gave me to the gang. I wasn't spying on the FBI," she explains, giving him a quick glance.

'_Which is her way of telling me she wasn't spying on me,'_ Aaron thinks. _'Gee, thanks.'_ He pushes the sarcastic voice to the back of his mind with the admonishment of _'not helping.' _

"Well," she continues with a shrug,"The gang I was working with thought I was."

She gives him a pleading look, almost willing him to understand when he remains silent, sitting there with that stoic look of his.

"It was a major operation, Aaron**.**"

'_And I guess __**that**__ makes it all okay,'_ he thinks, letting some of his anger boil to the top.

"Then why the hell didn't he know about me? About our child? Doyle wasn't that stupid. He had his ways, would have known, that we had a child together."

A dark thought rises up in Aaron's mind.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, looking at Emily warily. "Could they have been the ones to take her?" Still, something was not sitting right for him.

Emily chooses to answer his question regarding Doyle being unaware of Aaron and their child being alive, rather than dwelling on the possibility that Doyle was involved in her kidnapping.

"Because Clyde made sure that information wasn't there. When I came back to have her, it was recorded down that she died at birth."

"So you were using me? Did you get pregnant to help your cause back then as well?"

'_Shit, that was a low blow," _he thinks, seeing her wounded look. '_Congratulations, you wanted to hurt her and you did._ _She's never going to come back to you now.'_

"No, I didn't," she whispers. She reels a bit at his words and struggles to take a breath.

'_I can't believe he would think I would stoop that low,''_ Emily thinks. His words have opened up old and deep wounds that she's worked so long and hard to ignore.

"You sure about that? How can I believe you?" he says, shaking his head and trying to make sense of it all.

"Well, it's the truth. I didn't mean to get pregnant, but I did. When I told Clyde, he was pissed. He want to pull me but he couldn't. The gang already knew. Pulling me would have compromised my cover. We would have never found Doyle."

Hotch just sits there. He can't help but feel betrayed somehow. He feels rage welling up within him as the truth comes out. Emily can sense the emotional shift in him, but feels it necessary to continue. The lies have festered long enough.

'_Clyde Easter. Why am I not surprised? He's as responsible for this clusterfuck as she is,"_ he thinks bitterly. _'Enough! I've heard enough!'_

"You used me," he said, suddenly rising up and cutting her off. Emily takes a step back. She's seen this level of anger in Aaron before but never directed at her. She looks down at her hands, unconsciously rubbing them together, so that she doesn't have to look at him. He grabs her chin and forces her head up. He sees her pupils dilate with fear. That alone gives him just enough of the control that's left in him to quash a dark thought of shaking her silly.

"You used me," he began again in a tight, clipped voice, "And our daughter to make gains in your operation. No wonder I wasn't allow to know where the hell you were or what the hell was going on. Or to even know if my child was ok. This was all for your own fucking personal gain."

His words strike her like a physical blow and she slumps slightly in his arms. Aaron lets go of her suddenly and turns away. It takes all of her strength to remain standing.

"No, it wasn't, Hotch. It wasn't like that at all," she says, trying to convince him she wouldn't do that. That she feels bad for doing it.

"Well, it certainly feels that way. You didn't even have the guts to tell me what was going on. You know I wouldn't have told anyone about it."

"Iwas ordered not to tell you."

The regret in her voice was almost tangible.

"So I take it that night you told me you loved me was a lie then, too? Since everything else was back then."

"No! I meant that when I said it."

Her voice is soft, barely above a whisper, and he can hear the gentleness and kindness in it. She not denying that part of their relationship. The love that they shared, back then. It does little to soothe his anger, however.

"Really? Because right now it feels like your job, your operation to get into and close to Doyle, was far more important than me or our unborn child."

"That is not true. I had no choice. I was following orders."

"Like hell you were. I should have done something, told someone, and had you pulled." His voice is clipped and firm.

"It wouldn't have worked. They weren't going to pull me off the mission."

"Yes, they would have! It's too damn risky having a pregnant Agent undercover."

"They left me in there because I told them to leave me in there," she snaps.

Aaron stares at her incredulously.

'_She not only willingly endangered herself, but our child?' _

The remaining tendrils of control he has over his anger fray and evaporate. He grabs her by the arms and hauls her up against him.

"YOU WHAT?" His voice is low, barely above a whisper.

She winces in his grip, wishing that he yelled at her instead. She's never seen him this angry.

It's a cold anger.

'_Oh God, what have I done?'_ she thinks. She looks at him, every fiber of his being seems to be willing her to tell him everything now.

'_At what cost, though?'_ Her heart clenches and she bites down on her lip to keep the tears at bay for a little longer. She can see that he wants an answer.

'_Alright then.'_ She opens her mouth and she feels her heart slowly start to shatter.

"I told them I wanted to stay. I had worked _so_ hard, as had my team, to let this go down the drain. And when the gang heard the news, they loved the idea. Sort of saw it as 'sticking it to the man.' If I left after that, it would have only raised suspicions. I couldn't letmy mistakeaffect months of undercover work."

For an instant, she can see the deep, unfathomable hurt in his eyes before he shutters the emotions. His entire being, entire mood, shifts.

'_No, not like that! I didn't mean it like that! You might have, but I never did!"_

She reaches up to clasp his arms, but he's already pushing her away, looking at her as if only now has he seen her for the first time.

He turns away from her, walking over to a chair and gripping the back so tightly she can see his knuckles turn white.

"A mistake? Is that what she was to you?"

Emily opens her mouth to protest, but quickly shuts it.

'_Maybe I deserve this,'_ she thinks. _'__But I really should make a point to him that I meant the mistake was the timing and not her.'_

Unconsciously, his hands run through his hair again, trying to gain some control. His shoulders slump and she has to stop herself from reaching out to comfort him.

"No, I made the mistake in trusting you, into allowing you into my bed." he says, still not looking at her.

She purses her lips together and her eyes drop to her hands.

'_Don't cry, dammit! __**Don't!**__'_ she thinks.

"Right. You mean the bed I was just keeping warm until you took Haley back?" she asked, trying to turn it back around on him. She knew it was unfair, but damn if his words didn't smart.

"You disappeared on me one day, no note, no nothing. I waited three months to hear from you. What was I suppose to think? What was I suppose to do? And when I do hear from you, I get told you're pregnant with my child, but that 'now's not a good time' and you'll contact me later with more details. The next time I hear anything from you, it's tell me you're coming back to have her and I need to sign the adoption papers. Not once did you ask me what I wanted to do. Do you think that showed me that you wanted to be with me? No."

He pushed off the chair, standing up. He still faces away from her and folds his arms in front of him, closing himself off that much more.

"So I got back together with Haley. Why, you ask? Because the woman I thought I loved didn't want our child. I told no one about us but Dave. "

He finally turns toward her and Emily's breath catches in her throat. There is nothing left of his emotions but his cool demeanor.

"So that will be enough of disparaging Haley. You knew when we spent that short time together, what my relationship had been like with her. I hid nothing from you, Emily. Nothing. And this whole time you have lied to me about it all."

He stops and takes a deep breath. "It wasn't till Haley walked out for good, that I realised that I only got back with her because I was too weak to wait for you. You knew when Haley finally walked out for good, before anyone else. You have always been my rock. The one that knows everything in my past, my secrets, and then you keep this a secret from me for sixteen years, Emily. Sixteen years. Was any of the things you told me true, any of it?" he asks.

She hears his voice struggle to stay even, notices the break in his facade.

'_Perhaps all is not lost after all,'_ she thinks. _'Give me a chance, Aaron. I promise I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.'_

A lone tear escapes and runs down his face. He quickly wipes it away before Emily can get a chance to see it, but it's too late.

"Some yes, some no," she says, wanting desperately to walk over to him and press her hand against his cheek. She chooses to look down at her clasped hands instead, unconsciously picking at her nails all the while.

"I had no say in it, Aaron. Clyde said it was for the best. I was a target back then, which would make her a target. I did what I felt was best for our child. I didn't want to keep you out but if you had gotten involved then, there would have been even bigger target on your back. A target more serious and deadly than what you guys deal with in the BAU. Do you really think I wanted to be responsible for killing her like I did my first?"

"Sorry, Emily, I can't do this anymore."

He's mentally and emotionally exhausted. He simply doesn't have the strength to argue further.

"Aaron, they can't know."

"They have to know," he says, walking over to the door and opening it. He pauses and looks over at her one last time.

"But only I will know that my oldest child, my daughter, is seen as a mistake by her mother."

The look of hopelessness in his eyes crashes over her like an icy wave. She has to tell him the truth. She _must_ tell him.

"Aaron, stop! Please!" she begs, but the door is already closing behind him.

"Aaron, I'm sorry.," she says in the now empty room. "Please don't walk away. Please?"

Her tears are falling freely now. She had no idea she would feel this way. She feels broken at him finally admitting what was truly between them all those years ago, admitting that their child wasn't a mistake.

'_I didn't mean it , Aaron. I didn't.,'_ she thinks.

Time passes, but she is completely unaware of it. She is too busy compartmentalizing, trying to find the strength to walk out of the room. She doesn't realize nor care if a minute or an hour has passed. She needs to do this or she'll be no help to anyone, least of all her daughter.

As Emily finally gathers herself together and stands, Rossi walks in slowly, making sure not to startled her. Their eyes look as she turns to him.

"Safe to enter?" Rossi quietly asks. She nods her head and he walks in, closing the door behind him.

"Do you still have your place?"

"Yes, but I rented it out."

"Well, then, it's good that there's a bed at my place with your name on it," he says light heartedly and Emily can hear the underlying fatherly tone in his voice.

A knock at the door brings their attention back to the current case. He shoots Emily a questioning look and she nods her head.

"Come in," Rossi says.

"I've told everyone to go home for the night. It's late and no one has had anything to eat for hours," JJ says as she looks between the two. Rossi looks at his watch and sees the time.

"JJ, take Emily home, please. I'll see you both once I get there. I need to go check on Aaron," Rossi says, leaving them and heads out the BAU doors towards the elevators.


	7. Chapter 7

Rossi wanders down to the carparking area to see if Aaron's vehicle is there. As he rounds the corner, he notices the spot beside his own vehicle is empty. As he gets in the car, he texts JJ, letting her know he's off to Aaron's to check up on him and to see if he's alright.

'_It will give the girls time to talk one on one. JJ will most likely tell Emily about us. That should distract her from thinking about Isabelle and the case for a while. Now to find Aaron and make sure he is okay. He looked just as pale,and tired as Emily was when he walked past me earlier. I should have followed him there and then, but would he have wanted me to do that? Knowing him, he would have sent me to check on Emily. He cares about her. He's just too afraid to let her in again,_' Rossi thinks as he drives along the familiar route to Aaron's home.

Rossi parks his car when he sees Aaron's vehicle in its parking spot.

"That's a good sign," he says, more than a little relieved. "At least he hasn't gone out to some out of the way bar to drink himself stupid for once. Thank God Jack isn't around to see his father like this."

"You okay, Sir?" A passerby asks, hearing Rossi talk to himself.

"I'm fine. Thank you. Just thinking out loud," he responds before heading inside.

'_Oops,' he thinks, a sheepish grin ghosting his lips. 'Gotta remember to keep your thoughts in your head and not falling out of your mouth, Rossi.'_

Aaron sits on his couch, photos strewn across on the coffee table and the bottle of Scotch that Rossi brought round sitting on the table beside him. A nearly empty glass dangles from his hand.

He takes a swig of the amber liquid as he hears a knock on the door. He ignores it. As he grabs the bottle beside him, he knocks it against the arm of the couch. The liquid within sloshes around wildly. He tips the bottle to fill his glass. The amber liquid drips onto his fingers, spilling out of the glass while he pours. He quickly licks his fingers, not allowing any of it to get away.

"Aaron, I know you're home so open, the damn door right now."

After a moment, Aaron hears Rossi curse. He continues to ignore the older man and stares at a photo of Emily and their child instead.

**Ten minutes later**

"Did you forget that I have a key, Aaron?" Rossi asks. He stands beside Aaron, arms crossed over his body, looking very much like the pissed off but overprotective older brother

'_That's a lovely photo of Emily and baby Isabelle. I don't remember seeing it before. Must be one Aaron took on the sly.' _

"Aaron, you going to talk to me, goddamnit."

"Nope, was hoping you'd piss off and leave me alone."

"Not going to happen, Aaron."

"Why not? Everyone else has when the going gets tough. And now I've fucked up everything with her," he says, throwing the picture back on to the coffee table. He leans back on the couch and takes a few attempts to sip his drink before he is successful. The liquid sloshes around wildly as he moves the glass. As he moves it away from his face, Rossi takes it off him. Aaron shoots him a pissed look.

"You've had enough of this for one night. You have work tomorrow."

"No, I don't. I can't be involved."

"Yes, you can. Once we do your interview then you can help. You can help with all the other children. You're a professional, Aaron. You were cleared last time, you'll be cleared this time."

The two sit there in silence.

'_HMM ,wonder if I can get my glass back without Dave seeing. Or at least get another sip before he takes it away.'_

"So how much of what Prentiss told me did you already know?" Aaron asks sharply. He uses Prentiss instead of Emily because he has no idea how she is going to treat him after his episode in Rossi's office.

"She told me this morning. It was before I found out about the was more going on than I knew about, more than anyone knew about."

"Did you know that she was working back then?'

"Yes, working on profiles. That's why I put you two together. I knew you and her would work well together."

"You mean you hoped she'd make me forget about Haley."

"Yeah, that too."

"Did you know she was working on assignment while she was with us? It was on a need to know basis, but we were not part of the need to know group."

"Nope, I didn't know about that."

"Did you also know she made sure she stayed in her operation while she was pregnant? How fucking stupid is that? Putting both herself and our child at risk for _a job_? A job that could have cost me both of them," he says.

Rossi hears the love he still has, the care there in Aaron's voice as he talks about Emily.

"I did everything she asked of me and more back then to find out she was lying to me. She lied while we were together." He says as tears start to fall,

_He must be pretty drunk to be saying these things and have those tears._

"Aaron, she would have been doing her job. I bet there have been times you've done the 'on the need to know basis' with her?"

"I've told her everything, Dave. Everything. Even when she came back. She knows all about Haley and me and what was going on. She knows other shit that not even you know about. And now I find out she's lied to me. How the hell can I trust her? But like I can fix that now because after today she isn't ever going to want to be alone with me ever again. Or even talk to me."

"What did you do?"

"You don't want to know, Dave. You just don't want to know."

"Better tell me now 'cause if I have to hear it from JJ when I get home, there will be hell to pay."

"Let's put it this way if I tell you I can guarantee you'll want to punch me for the way I treated her, cause right now I want to do that to myself."

The two sit there nothing being said. Dave ponding what Aaron has said, and even the fact he is opening up like this.

"Why does this sort of shit keep happening to me?" Aaron asks, managing to grab the empty glass and smashing it against the wall. "I've fucked up any chance of us ever being anything ever again."

"Why didn't you tell Emily to stay in the States?"

"Oh God, not you too."

"Yes, me too. Now tell me."

'_Man, he's being a complete asshole tonight,' _Aaron thinks.

"Tell me why you couldn't tell her to stay when she asked you to."

"Well, at the time she was my subordinate, under my command. What would've that said of me? Telling her she can't leave or even what to do in her life. She's never allowed me to tell her what to do unless work related and then..." The younger man shrugs.

"Stop the bullshit, Aaron, and tell me the fucking truth."

'_How do I tell him I was scared that telling her not to go that she would still have gone? Or told her I still loved her and she said 'too late, I'm still going__'?__ It was easy to say nothing than say something and get my hopes crushed.'_

"Do I need to start playing the guessing game with you?" Rossi asks. The frustration in the older man's voice is obvious.

"Fine. You want to know the truth? I was scared shitless that no matter what I said to her she would still leave. If she was going to stay I wanted it to because she wanted to be here, not because I told her to stay."

"Do you think you being with Beth and having her around the team and at JJ's wedding gave her any reason to stay in the country? Hmm?"

"Like I could do anything while she was working under me?'

"Oh you could've done something when Morgan was unit chief. As two equals, you could of been together. But as her boss? No. You made the choice to step back up, Aaron. What was that telling her? Mm? You spent shitloads of time together after you got attacked and Haley went into hiding. Then you step back in to your old role without a thought of what it was going to do to her. Then she had to go into hiding and then you got together with Beth. Before I know it, you two were more than just friends. I watched as Emily climb back into herself."

"What, was I meant to do sit around and wait for her to decide to change jobs?"

"Hell no, Aaron! You should've done something. Like told her how you felt the moment she came back to us. Or started dating Beth. Does Beth know about your past with Emily?"

"No, she has no need to know."

"Like hell she doesn't. If you're serious about Beth, she needs to know that you two have a child together one that was taken. She isn't going to be happy finding this out from someone else, Aaron."

"It's none of her business."

"Just like its none of the team's business to know what Emily and you use mean to each other, hmm? Or the fact there is a child out there with yours and Emily's DNA. Or that said child is right now part of a FBI case, involving different departments. When will you stop bullshitting yourself and be honest about what it is you feel for her?"

"Because I fucked it up years ago, Dave."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did. I didn't wait for her to come back from assignment. When I found out she was pregnant, I didn't kick Haley out and make a family with her like I should have done. No, I was pissed off with both of them for the shit that they were putting me through. Then I get sent paperwork telling me what Emily was doing. She told me if I didn't sign the paperwork then I wasn't going to be put on my child's birth certificate. How would that make you feel? Not being recognized as the father? Then she drops the bombshell that Clyde Easter, that asshole, had our child declared legally dead. He was involved. He told Emily it be best if I wasn't involved. He also was the one who could've pulled her but allowed her to stay on, then he was the prick that had her leaving us again," there is a pause. "What does that make me now? Are we really that girls parents or not? Since legally my child is dead."

"Knowing Clyde, there was a reason for that. I take it you didn't bother to listen to Emily explain herself over that one.'

"Oh yeah, she said it was to protect me and Isabelle, to prevent even bigger targets being on our backs, blah blah blah bullshit."

"That's not bullshit. We both know what Doyle nearly did to her when he wanted revenge. Imagine what he would have done if he knew that you two were once together? That you had a child together?" Rossi starts shaking his head. "No, I don't even want to think of that."

'_Gotta to get that picture out of my head, a Jack with no father.'_

"Uh, no. You're not having anymore of this, Aaron. You've had too much already," Rossi tells Aaron, grabbing the bottle off the younger man when he tries to drink straight from it, not caring about not having a glass.

"Like hell I have, tomorrow I will have a team who will no longer trust me. Morgan is going to skin me alive for the way I have treated Emily."

"Aaron have more faith in yourself. Morgan may want to skin you, but so do I right now. All because you're acting like a complete dick over all of this. Pull your head out of your ass. Yes, Emily is going to be pissed at you. With what I saw in my office tonight, even I'm pissed at you. I'm also pissed that you two are being so tight lipped over this. Tomorrow morning, regardless of what either of you say, I'm telling the team because they need to know."

"Like hell you are Dave."

"Why Aaron?" he asks.

Aaron's face shows anger and sadness. The older man realizes something isn't right.

"Because I don't want them to know that Emily thinks of our daughter as a mistake, Dave. She said Isabelle was a mistake." And that is Aaron's final straw, his undoing, before he is racked with sobs.

'_Emily never thought of her as a mistake, where the hell did he get that from, what the hell was said between them once i left the room. No bloody wonder they both in such a mess after their talk. That wouldn't have gone down well with him, he has never thought of his little girl as a mistake, he has only ever wanted the best for her,"_ Rossi thinks as he sits there watching Aaron.

"Hey, cara, it's me."

"Hi, Dave. How are things with Hotch?"

"Not good. I'm going to stay the night. How's Emily?'

"She's asleep. She wouldn't talk when we got home. Well, not about what went on in your office, at least. Now she's in the guest room, crying herself to sleep. She keeps repeating the same sentence over and over again and it's got me worried."

"What's she saying, JJ?"

"I didn't mean to call her a mistake. Do you know what she is going on about?"

"Yes, I do ,my dear, and tomorrow the team will find out."

"_Dave?"_ She asks in her 'you better tell me or else' tone.

"Aaron and Emily go back a long way. They have a lot more history than you know," Rossi says. "Including a little girl whose face was up on the board this morning."

"Oh God! No wonder they're in the state they're in,"she says. Hearing her shocked, sad, and concerned tone makes him wish he was there to give her a cuddle.

"I think it might be best to sent Henry off to Helen's tomorrow, cara. I would say after tomorrow morning's news to the team and her interview, Emily is going to need you. Or if you're not happy with that, have Helen stay at the house overnight so that she can be there for Henry."

"Dave, what have I told you about this?"

"I know what you have told me, bella, but Emily is going to need this. You need to be there for her and not have to worry about Henry. We will talk more about this later. Go get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning."

"Sure thing, Dave."

They say their goodnights before hanging up. Aaron has fallen asleep on the couch. Rossi puts the blanket over him. He then goes and finds Aaron's stash of alcohol and hides it in the guest room where Rossi goes to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Ok all sorry for the major delay in this chapter getting up but I have been unwell and so writing and updating have taken a back burner while I get better. There is still loads more of this story to come yet and I do hope I can get updates out more often than I have of late.**_

_**Anyway enjoy and let me know what you think**_

"Right, is everyone here that needs to be here?" Rossi asks as he scans the conference room, checking that all members of his team are present.

There is collective yes coming from a few people.

"Okay, let's get down to business. First on the agenda this morning is that we need to make sure all departments are communicating with each other and that no information is being left out. You all need to make sure you make detailed notes and reports. They will all be placed here in the conference room till this case is over. Anyone who needs to access a file will be able to see how that file is progressing. Also on the communication front," Rossi starts, then pauses to take a breath, trying to figure out how best to word what is next.

"In about thirty minutes, there will be two interviews being conducted, in relation to this child Isabelle Anna Mosley. she was adopted by Linda and John Mosley, the child's biological parents are Agent Hotchner and Agent Prentiss."

Rossi could hear some agents gasp at the news. A few sit there with jaws dropped. He looks towards his own team, seeing Morgan trying not to snap the pen in his hands. Reid's look of shock is coupled with raised eyebrows. And Garcia is trying to contain herself, after her initial gasp at the news. As it sinks in, he sees her face drop, then sadness and pain wash over her, quickly masked, as she realises that what should be good happy times isn't for her family.

"Who will be conducting these interviews?" asks an agent from another team.

"Unfortunately, not us."

"Why can't we do the interviews since it is part of our on going case?"

"Security clearance," Rossi replied. " Whoever does the interviews needs to have the same clearance or higher. Ms. Jareau and I are the only two here with that type of clearance and we are too close to them personally. Plus, after talking with Strauss, it was agreed that we get the FBI, CIA and Interpol to do the interview or have them decide jointly who does it."

"Why are you doing that? You know they'll just take over the case," says an angry Morgan.

"Because of the nature of the work Agent Prentiss was doing, and also Agent Hotchner they need to be able to be honest and upfront and say what they need to say without worrying about if they are saying something they shouldn't. This way they both can go over everything from back then step by step no holds barred."

"That does explain Hotch's reaction yesterday morning, and I would take it you called Emily over?" Morgan asks Rossi.

"Yes I did, what isn't helping is if you look at the date it is also around the time of year she went missing. There is a fear amount of other stuff that went on around the time of Emily conceiving the baby, and why they did what they did, please do not judge them because if you do, I will not be impressed." His tone changes at the end alerting them all to the fact that they cause any strife for the two agents they will be dealing with him.

"Will we get any information from the interview?"

"I have been reassured that we will get anything and everything that they feel is important to this case and to the case of their child. If it involved information that is above our clearance, they said they would provide us with an Agent who will have access and be able to do what is needed."

"That's good to hear."

"Now what I want you all to do is get back to work and concentrate on finding these girls. Make every little bit count. We have one of our own out there. She may not live with Hotch and Prentiss, but she's one of us," Rossi tells them. He picks up some files, leaving the conference room and heads toward his office. JJ is right behind him.

"How was your night with Hotch?"

"He drunk himself to sleep," Rossi says, sliding into his seat behind the desk. JJ leans casually against the desk's side.

He can see the dark circles under JJ's eyes, peeking through her foundation.

"How's Emily?" he asks, knowing she'll realize he's asking about her too.

She gave him a weak smile, acknowledgement that he was concerned about them both.

"She woke up several times during the night," JJ told him. "Screaming out. I did as you suggested. Helen's going to take Henry to her place. After what happened last night, I think you're right, she needs someone. We've always been close."

JJ sighs, crossing her arms. "I owe her my time, my uninterrupted time," she tells Rossi.

He knows that stance of hers well.

'_She's made up her mind. And God help the poor bastard who thinks he can change it,'_he thinks, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"That's good to hear, cara, but remember I wasn't trying to tell you what to do with your life or Henry's. I just know how hard it was on her when she first found out Isabelle had been taken. Back then I was able to be with her, so was Hotch to a degree, but this time Hotch is going to need me. And God knows how much digging the heads will do when they start interviewing them today."

He pauses, lost in thought. JJ can tell from the look on his face he has more to say and decides not to interrupt just yet.

"She just like a daughter to me, cara. I just want to make sure she had someone she knows, she trusts, to be there for her."

"I know you see Emily as a daughter. It was that and a few other reasons as to why I followed your suggestion. Plus, they could end up spending hours in those interviews dredging up god knows what from their past. It's going to be tough."

"Yes, it could and it will, bella. Anyway, we should really do some work. I doubt I will be coming home tonight too by the way." He fails to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He loves being able to spend time at home with JJ and Henry, as a family.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Maybe it would be best to have them both under the same roof?" she asks, hearing his deflated tone. She also feels the pain of the separation.

She realizes she has feelings she was not expecting to feel so soon after losing Will. She thought it be years. _'More likely when Henry was grown up and left home,'_ she thinks.

Rossi shakes his head, frowning.

"Um, after yesterday's talk, I think that might be asking far too much right now."

"Dave?" her voice all but telling him to spill the beans.

"They talked. A few things were said, some of it was not nice. They're both in a state over it. Just leave it, JJ. They need to sort this out themselves," Rossi says, giving her a small, reassuring smile. "We just need to be there as support for them."

"Okay, I'll get back to doing what I was planning on doing," she says.

Rossi's brows raise in surprise as JJ walks around his desk. She quickly leans down and places a kiss on his lips before returning to work.

He's stunned at her actions. Sure, they kiss at home, but the fact she initiated it at work, leaving him stunned. But in such a good way.

'_See you're doing things right by being slow with all of this, Rossi. She kissed you at work. Now no jumping for joy or people will think you've lost it, ok?' _he thinks, opening a file and starting to work on it.

**Interview Room 1**

'_Oh, God, not that dickhead from CIA. He refused to get word to Emily. Refused for her to know what was going on even after she had finished her assignment. Froze her out of the loop. always acted as if he was so big and mighty, that he knew everything and had control, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack when it came to getting anything from him, or him doing anything for me. This is going to be one hell of a interview ,' _Aaron thinks as he he watches two FBI Agents whisper to each other as they set up. plus a CIA agent he has had dealings with in the past. _ That_ already has him on the defensive. The last agent, from the looks of him, was from neither agency. From his Italian leather shoes to his tailor-made suit, Hotch guessed he was from Interpol.

'_Wonder who he is. I don't remember seeing his face before.'_

"Interview between Senior Supervisory Special Agent, Aaron Hotchner, Behaviour Analysis Unit, Unit Chief Team A, myself Agent Brian Tredpole and also in the room is FBI Assistant Director John Truesdale, CIA Assistant Director Stephen McLean and Interpol Deputy Commissioner Matthieu Givry.

"Ok, Aaron, do you know why you are here?"

"Yes. I do. But I also didn't give you permission to call me Aaron."

"Can you explain to me where you were on the night of Wednesday 2nd 2003 when Isabelle Anna Mosley went missing?" Agent Tredpole ignores the unit chief's irritation over calling him by his first name.

"That day I was working away with Agent Rossi. We flew back in that evening on a commercial airline. Back then, the FBI Jet was not available to our department. I went home to my wife at the time, Haley."

"What were you and Agent Rossi working on that required you to be out of town?"

"A case of course, one that involved a man killing organ donors that matched his dying wife and harvesting them in an attempt to save her. We finished up that day and flew back that night, landed around 11 pm. I took a taxi home once I got my luggage."

"What did you do once you were home?"

"I got home, put my go bag by the back door, removed my gun and placed it in my safe then locked it before getting undressed and going into bed."

"Did you take any phone calls or leave the house at all?"

"I took a phone call at seven that morning from Agent Rossi. He informed me I could arrive at nine instead of eight."

"And when did you find out that Isabelle Mosley had been taken the night before?"

"When I saw an AMBER alert while at my desk at work. The television in the breakroom was on that day. It wasn't long after I arrived when I saw it. 9:15, I think the time was, as the news had just finished when the report came up," Aaron replies, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

"And what was your reaction when you saw it."

"I think it has been recorded in a number of places, Brian," Aaron pauses to get his frustration under control. He shuffles through papers from the file before him, focusing the attention on his hands as he takes a calming breath before continuing.

"As you well know, I threw a few items, before agent Rossi stepped in, took me away, and calmed me down. Look, if you go over the previous interview as well as my log, the airline logs, my notes, my clock in times, you will know all this information and wouldn't need me to go over it again with you. All you're doing is stalling. There's nothing in there that's of any use to you or the case right now. I think my actions that day witnessed by several other FBI agents would prove that I wasn't behind what happened to her. Now, get to the real point of this interview or let me go since you have no reason to hold me."

"Well, there is the fraternization rules you broke with Agent Prentiss back in 1997."

"Incorrect, she was not my subordinate, nor on my team. She didn't even work for the FBI, she was with the CIA and Interpol at that time. So there is nothing to make that charge stick."

"He's correct," comes from Givry.

'_MM, I'm like this guy. Straight to the point , no pissing around. Stands nice and tall. Dressed to show his position within his group, but not showing off that he is earns well. Silent most of the time. The quiet ones are always dangerous'_', Aaron thinks before leaning forward.

"Brian, you know I profile for a living. Right now you're sweating under that jacket and shirt, being in this room with all these heads. You've been tasked with a job you don't want to be doing, interviewing a fellow FBI Agent one who up until today had higher security clearance than you do. You keep flicking that pen from hand to hand to stop your hands from shaking. Also I can see your lower body moving every so often. I would take it you're crossing and uncrossing your legs. You're more nervous about being in this room than anyone else. And while I've been telling you all this, you couldn't help but loosen your tie as if you're being suffocated," Aaron tells him. He then turns to his superior in the FBI and addresses him.

"Sir, it would be best to have someone more accustomed doing this, interviewing fellow agents with your presence around." The FBI and Interpol agents are impressed by what Aaron has picked up. Aaron guesses they placed this Agent in the room to see what would happen.

But McLean is not at all impressed with how Aaron is walking over top of everything right now. Having never like Aaron from the first time he meet him. This interview is meant to be them asking the questions, and deciding what gets done. Not him taking over, and showing why he is in the position he is in and has the clearance that he has.

'_That prick has the job I always wanted but never got a chance to do,'_ Aaron thinks.

"Very well, Agent Hotchner. Agent Tredpole, you can leave the room."

The group sits and waits for about five minutes, no one saying anything.

"Right, Agent Hotchner. Do you mind if I call you Aaron?" Truesdale asks.

"Aaron is fine with me."

"Okay, Aaron, we will need to go over a few things. They may seem the same as before but we just need to double check. Who is Isabelle Anne Mosley in relation to you?"

"She is my biological daughter, that I had with Agent Prentiss. She was born June the 27th 1998. Sir, why did you bring in someone like Agent Tredpole to do this interview? I would've thought you would of had someone far more experienced to do it, and also someone with the right security clearance as well?"

"He has the clearance, Aaron."

"The same clearance as I do?" He says, sitting back and crossing his arms, not believing what he is being told. "You do realise that I have clearance in all three of your departments? And there is only a select few who work in the field who has the same clearance as me. Two of them are in my team, leaving I think five others in total. One of those happens to be Agent Prentiss, the other four are placed in different parts of the world."

"He has the clearance, he is just lacking the interviewing skills that he really does need to have. Happens when you sit behind a desk for far too long," McLean states.

'_Bullshit,'_ Aaron thinks.

"What has that got to do with this case? Why I'm being interviewed yet again when we all know that last time I was cleared? For over the last ten years there have been no unexplained trips anywhere, no unexplained expenses, and my movements are pretty much the same since my ex-wife died."

"We know that. We have been keeping a track of everything you do since she was kidnapped," Truesdale says.

'_What? I've been getting tracked? I must be losing my people reading skills… Surely I would of noticed being followed or tracked,' Aaron thinks as he listens to the question being asked._

"Now what I'm wanting to know and if you would stop asking me all the questions is, is there anything new that you and Agent Prentiss have to share? Or that she has shared with you that could be of help to this case and to us?"

"What do I know that is new, and it isn't much, you're most likely to get more out of Emily then you will from me. I know Clyde Easter and this CIA agent played a part in me not being a part of any decisions that were made about my child. I thought Ian Doyle could have been behind it. But I've been thinking about it he didn't know or he would have used her as a pawn for both Emily and I. He had no knowledge of what we were to each other."

"And what makes you think that?"

"He didn't use her to get to Emily, he stalked us instead. Anyway, in the interviewing process, not once did he mention any child that Emily had. Or anything about what Emily and I had shared, neither our relationship nor our child. And that was after I discovered that he knew about Jack. Doyle is the sort of man who would use everything he had against you to get to what he was after and that was his son," Aaron pauses, surprised at the spark of empathy that he had for Emily's nemesis before continuing. 'When your own child is involved you will use and do anything to get them back."

"Would you, Aaron?"

"Yes but I'd work within the law. The thing is if Doyle had found out, then he would've found out that our child - thanks to those two idiots. -," he points to McLean. "Had her made legally dead, so that means Emily and I didn't have a living child. She's dead and buried in some grave. Of course, that bit of information was withheld from me until last night," Aaron bit out. He doesn't care if Mr CIA sees him angry now. It's taking all of his control to not leap across the table and beat the man to a pulp. "The fact they allowed an agent to work in the field while pregnant, which, if I remember correctly, is against the policy of all three agencies. Again, if I remember correctly, any agent found to be pregnant or hiding a pregnancy while undercover will either have their status revoked or be put on some horrible desk duty in some god forsaken town. And if any agent is found to be pregnant, they they must be removed from their undercover assignment before they hit the three month mark. So what do these two agencies have to say about breaking protocol? And don't use the excuse 'we did not know about it till later on', because I still have the official documentation that was sent to me from Clyde via this _agent_ here."

Aaron watches as the interpol guy shoots a totally pissed off look at the CIA agent while he tells the CIA agent they _"will be having a very serious conversation at the end of this interview the CIA agent is not going to enjoy"_. Aaron feels a tad better realizing that the moron was going to get into trouble.

"Aaron,let's get back on track here," McLean says, trying to regain some control.

"We are on track. I'm providing you with information that I received last night from Emily herself. And she's in the room next door going through the same thing. Though I wonder if she has turn the tables like I have on you three. There is a reason my team is the best at what we do, _Sir._ There is no way I would've taken Isabelle out of a loving caring home."

McLean begins to protest, but Aaron cuts him off.

"And before you even state that the family was going through a rough patch, it happens in all marriages and relationships. The fact that her adoptive parents are still together shows that the issue at the time wasn't going to cause any long term problems. You're better off using the time wasted here on finding out who killed those three girls and if it is linked to the major missing persons case that my team is working on," Aaron tells them. He gathers his papers together, shoving them back into the file. As far as he is concerned, this 'interview' is over. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have reports that need my immediate attention," he states, reminding them all that there are other missing children out there that he could be helping find.


End file.
